Rome may not have been built in a day, but that doesn't mean a company can't.
That's exactly what I did with my team at Attacat and my new business partner Charlie Henderson from Climate futures. We set up and launched TheWoodpicker.com, a wood pellet fuel price comparison search engine, in just eleven hours.
At the beginning of the day, we had no brand name, no customers, no employees, no website and no marketing plan. All we had was an outline concept. Eleven hours later we had a brand, phone numbers, email addresses a functioning website, someone to manage the business and our first two customers.
Yes, it is possible to take your business concept and make it happen, even when you think you don't have the time. Here's how you can do it.
We were fortunate to have twelve support staff on the day, but there's no reason why you couldn't do this with just you - the visionary - a graphic designer, web developer and a couple of other versatile individuals. You'll also want a proactive IT company you can call on to deal with any teething tech problems.
You are also going to need a whiteboard, post-it notes and lots of paper to record progress and jot down ideas through the day.
I presented the concept using Simon Sinek's 'Start with why' approach
We showed a brief video of a customer situation taken in advance. It doesn't have to be high-tech - as I'm a potential customer, I just got the iPhone out and got my daughter to record me demonstrating how the end product (ie. wood pellets) are used to heat my house with a biomass boiler.
I described the business model using what we call a 'Business Mugshot'. We derived this from the Business Model Canvas which you may have heard of.
10 minutes of questions to encourage feedback and deal with queries.
Getting customers was a higher priority than being able to process a payment (indeed we processed our first payment manually through a third-party bank account). That meant focusing on getting a website up and running, and keeping things simple.
The price comparison site we launched was little more than a form, some persuasive wording and an about us page.
The back office system? As soon as a form was filled, we literally picked up the phone to suppliers and emailed the collated information back to the customer. Very high tech!
One month in we are beginning to automate processes after discovering what is important to customers, some of which was unexpected. If we'd launched the company more traditionally, we would have wasted all that development budget automating things that the customer didn't want.
If a day is all you can spare for a new business, then delegation is your only option. It's also pretty refreshing for an entrepreneur like me who doesn't like letting go.
I'm thriving on having another business, yet I'm still working full time at Attacat. That's only been possible by finding a partner who shares my vision. This has certainly been a different way of setting up a business, but for time poor entrepreneurs, I highly recommend it.
What do you think of Tim's methods? Log in or sign up to UKBF to comment.
That's exactly what I did with my team at Attacat and my new business partner Charlie Henderson from Climate futures. We set up and launched TheWoodpicker.com, a wood pellet fuel price comparison search engine, in just eleven hours.
At the beginning of the day, we had no brand name, no customers, no employees, no website and no marketing plan. All we had was an outline concept. Eleven hours later we had a brand, phone numbers, email addresses a functioning website, someone to manage the business and our first two customers.
Yes, it is possible to take your business concept and make it happen, even when you think you don't have the time. Here's how you can do it.
Step 1 - Clear the diary
With enough warning, we can all dedicate a full day to something. In our case we realised that the 'extra day' of 29 February (leap day) was an opportunity to do something special. So we teed-up the team, booked a web developer for the day and ordered lunch - vital for keeping morale high!We were fortunate to have twelve support staff on the day, but there's no reason why you couldn't do this with just you - the visionary - a graphic designer, web developer and a couple of other versatile individuals. You'll also want a proactive IT company you can call on to deal with any teething tech problems.
Step 2 - Plan out the day
This was the bit I cheated on. Whilst the rest of the team could not get started before 9am on the day - they didn't even know what the business was until then - Charlie and I did take some time in advance to plan out who was going to do what and when. What was important was to create clear milestones and an output that was achievable by the end of the day. We created a good old Gantt chart for this purpose:You are also going to need a whiteboard, post-it notes and lots of paper to record progress and jot down ideas through the day.
Step 3 - Use the first 30 minutes to present the vision
On the day itself, your first job is to get the business idea across to your team. It will need to be readily understandable for your day to be a success. This is how we did it:I presented the concept using Simon Sinek's 'Start with why' approach
We showed a brief video of a customer situation taken in advance. It doesn't have to be high-tech - as I'm a potential customer, I just got the iPhone out and got my daughter to record me demonstrating how the end product (ie. wood pellets) are used to heat my house with a biomass boiler.
I described the business model using what we call a 'Business Mugshot'. We derived this from the Business Model Canvas which you may have heard of.
10 minutes of questions to encourage feedback and deal with queries.
Step 4 - Get down to work!
Following the briefing we split into three teams initially:- Branding
- Market research
- Technology
What needs doing?
The nature of your business will dictate what you need to work on but here's our task list. These can be applied to most businesses:- Come up with a brand name - 1 hr
- Secure domain names - 15 mins
- Secure names on social sites - 30 mins
- Logo design - 1 hr
- Brand look and feel - 1 hr
- Call suppliers/mystery shop - 4 hrs
- Call potential customers (we probably spoke to 50 people over the day largely by asking 'who else do you know in a similar situation') - 4hrs
- Website copy - 2 hrs
- Website layout - 2 hrs
- Website build - all day
- Set-up Google apps (email) - ask IT company
- Standard email copy - 3 hrs
- Set-up phone number - ask IT company
- Set-up email newsletter (Mailchimp)
- Create and launch Google AdWords account
- Create outline digital marketing plan - 3 hrs
- Populate 'database' (spreadsheet) - 3 hrs
- Week one plan and write-up processes for employee - 3 hrs
- Focus efforts on the customer interface
Getting customers was a higher priority than being able to process a payment (indeed we processed our first payment manually through a third-party bank account). That meant focusing on getting a website up and running, and keeping things simple.
The price comparison site we launched was little more than a form, some persuasive wording and an about us page.
The back office system? As soon as a form was filled, we literally picked up the phone to suppliers and emailed the collated information back to the customer. Very high tech!
Beyond the day
By only giving ourselves a day, we were forced to adopt an agile or lean mindset and how refreshing that has been!One month in we are beginning to automate processes after discovering what is important to customers, some of which was unexpected. If we'd launched the company more traditionally, we would have wasted all that development budget automating things that the customer didn't want.
If a day is all you can spare for a new business, then delegation is your only option. It's also pretty refreshing for an entrepreneur like me who doesn't like letting go.
I'm thriving on having another business, yet I'm still working full time at Attacat. That's only been possible by finding a partner who shares my vision. This has certainly been a different way of setting up a business, but for time poor entrepreneurs, I highly recommend it.
What do you think of Tim's methods? Log in or sign up to UKBF to comment.
